Combaticon Hunt
Plaza - Nova Cronum Nova Cronum is a city-state devoted to the power of the mind, thus there are various institutions that teach and promote philosophical thinking. The circular community's processor passion is seen throughout its art and advertisements. A recurring motif is a blue, stylized optic, seen primary within a glittering mosaic on the tiled ground within the city-state's plaza. None of the buildings are very tall, as "one must remain as grounded as their thoughts", and there are a great number of public gardens sporting bizarre mechanical flora. Contents: Rumble Moonracer Solstice Jazz Blast Off sits inside a wine shop in Nova Cronum. It's been a long day, and he's been busy doing patrols and making sure Autobots stayed far away from the newly-acquired city. The CO of Aerospace figures he deserves a little down time now, so what better way to do that than spend time here? Rumble and he are planning on opening up this shop to the public soon, and there are things to be done... Things that can wait, apparently, because at the moment Blast Off is just sipping some wine. He's... uh... taking stock of the inventory... yeah, that's it. Rumble struts into the wine shop. "Hey, how goes it!" Rumble says, carrying a crate that's slightly larger than he is. He's all-but-invisible beneath it, and it looks like the box is levitating into the shop on its own power while talking like Rumble. "Man, that enerwine school is tough! I'm startin' to remember why I never liked school in the first place!" <> comes over the Autobot coms as Jazz makes it into the city. Unlike the previous incursion, he didn't bring the flashy flame jets along for the ride, figuring it might be more likely to stay hidden that way. He's moved out ahead of his backup, heading towards the spot where his informant says that Blast Off was last seen. The enerwine shop..no surprise there. Vanishing against the terrain he sticks to the shadows, moving through bombed out buildings and piles of rubble. For a giant blue and white transformer, he remains surprisingly hard to see as he gets into position right across the road from where Blast Off is... Two of them..Rumble and Blast Off both. That'll make it a bit more complicated, but he had planned on there being backup. He pulls his rifle out of subspace as his shoulder mounted flamethrower flips into place..watching..waiting. The moment to move will come soon, and he'll be ready for it. Got to put him down fast and hard..get the intel and get out before his troops are injured. That's the goal at least. Combat: Jazz slips into the shadows and out of sight... Solstice isn't built for the sneaking, that orange and chrome is a give-a-way. Still, orders are, if memory serves, to run interference. So she sets up shop atop a building, behind a sign advertising wares of a dubious nature that's probably seen better days and waits. Combat: Swindle compares his Intelligence to Solstice's Agility: Success! Combat: Blast Off compares his Intelligence to Solstice's Agility: Success! Combat: Rumble compares his Intelligence to Solstice's Agility: Failure :( Swindle folds down and in on himself to become a military grade off-road jeep. ___ ___ _ _ ___ _ _ / __| / _ \ | \| | / __| | | | | | (__ | (_) | | .` | \__ \ |_| |_| \___| \___/ |_|\_| |___/ (_) (_) Blast Off sighs and swishes the wine in his glass slowly, looking at it. He's still wondering how the little hooligan ever got into that school to begin with... Oh yeah. Probably Soundwave. Though Rumble IS actually picking up a few things from it.. and at least the street punk tape is developing an appreciation some of the refined and sophisticated things in life. Surprisingly. "It goes as well as can be expected. The Autofools tried to infiltrate this place yet again... though I showed them the error of their ways in short order, of course." Then he waves in the direction of the crate, still sitting down and not offering to help, of course, "You can put it down over there. Well... I am surprised you're even there to begin with, but I would still enjoy a tour of the place if you have the time at some point..." He tries to sound aloof and not hopeful, like he really is.... That's when he happens to look out the large store front window, displaying various wines- and spots something orange sneaking around up high on a roof. And... did he just catch an Autobot badge on it? His optics narrow and he brings out his blaster. "Hold on.... I think we have company.... Unwelcome company..." He steps out into the doorway and raises his blaster at the 'Bot. He's not sure yet who it is... but he has a suspicion. His scanners have picked her up now- and she reads Autobot, so he fires! Combat: Blast Off strikes Solstice with his Putting Out the Unwelcome Mat attack! -3 Rumble puts down the crate. "Hm? Company?" It takes him a moment to carefully place the crate down due to some breakable contents, so by the time he's done Blast Off has taken his first snipe in the doorway. "Wait, what's goin' on??" Rumble flies over and lands on Blast Off's shoulder so he can see what the Combaticon is seeing. Losing that factory a while back was a pain in the skidplate, but Swindle had managed to make it worthwhile to some degree. After moving operations elsewhere. Wherever that may be now. It wasn't here, at least. No, the dusty colored jeep was just cruising through the city, going to meet up with his teammate and see how certain endevours were going, over a glass of ener-whine or two. Hey, he may not be all classy and all, but how could a businessmech of his caliber -not- have a taste for such finer luxuries. o/~ ..Try to catch me rollin' dirty, rollin' dirty, rollin' dir--*digital screech* Swindle kills the music when something twinges at his 'being watched' senses. Did he just see a... Hmmm... The combaticon slows his speed, turret swiveling to try and pick up the blip he might of just saw. And is -just- about to radio the others when Blast Off steps out and shoots in that direction. Well, nevermind that then. Instead Swindle kicks it into reverse and backs into the alley, doing his own best to duck out of view for the moment. His turret rotates upward, and gives off a muffled fwoom as it fires into the air, the pellets bursting mid-flight more an attempt to startle whoever is up there than hit them. Combat: Military Gunnery Jeep sets his defense level to Guarded. Combat: Military Gunnery Jeep strikes Solstice with his It's like sneaking up behind someone and setting off fireworks. Lots of BANG BANG BANG very little BOOM (Pistol) attack! -1 ___ ___ _____ ___ _ _ | _ ) / _ \ |_ _| / __| | | | | | _ \ | (_) | | | \__ \ |_| |_| |___/ \___/ |_| |___/ (_) (_) <'Decepticon'> Swindle says, "I thought you didn't invite riffraff to your wine tasting parties, Blast Off." <'Decepticon'> Blast Off sighs. "It's... a long story. Involving "connections", mostly. Just a little closer.. just a little closer. He's almost on top of them, if things will just keep going their way. Just two of them, and it's no problem at all for the party he's assembled to deal with these two.. Only..wait..Blast Off is looking up and past him, towards where he expects his backup to be. Oh smeg, someone's been spotted. He knew it was likely to happen, but he'd hoped.. The sound of a shot ringing out from his target, that's certainly enough to get Jazz moving. Out of nowhere he appears, right on top of Blast Off and Rumble both, charging in at the two of them full speed. Through the window the spy meister goes, diving into a roll right near Rumble. The Autobot's hands reach out to try and grab the somewhat startled and off balance tape-con by the legs as he rolls towards standing. The momentum behind the movement working to his advantage as he tries to snap Rumble around (or the nearest crate if not) to smash into Blast Off's face as he springs past the both of them and deeper into the wine shop. <> Solstice has this feeling that sneaking just isn't her forte. And this sign isn't much in the way of cover whatsoever. Still, she remained crouched up until the point where the door to the wineshop opened and a stinging pain slipped out and smacked her in the chest. "!" Mind whirling through probabilities until. Crabbed backpedal then a sting to the side. "Hey, whoa whoa!" Hands slowly raising up to shoulder height, remaining as behind the raggity sign as possible, "I.. uh." Optics big, "Is Blast Off here? I... " Blink, "Can I have your autograph, sir?" Combat: Jazz appears from the shadows... Combat: Jazz sets his defense level to Aggressive. Combat: Jazz strikes Blast Off with his ain't nobody calling Jazz unchrazimatic Area attack! Combat: Jazz strikes Rumble with his ain't nobody calling Jazz unchrazimatic Area attack! Combat: Solstice takes extra time to steady herself. Pass ___ ___ _ _ ___ _ _ / __| / _ \ | \| | / __| | | | | | (__ | (_) | | .` | \__ \ |_| |_| \___| \___/ |_|\_| |___/ (_) (_) Combat: Rumble sets his defense level to Aggressive. Blast Off suddenly finds a large Autobot smashhing his way right into the windows of his shop (oh the humanity! I mean the Cybertronity! I mean... well, oh slag, the wine bottles! NOOO!) with much shattering and breaking and wine splashing everywhere. Then suddenly his fellow shop "owner" is being flung into his face, and the Combaticon shuttle staggers back, falling among some crates himself! "Ahh!" He swipes Rumble away from him, then pushes himself up angrily.... Not only angry at being taken by surprise like that, but also at all the damage... this will take forever to clean up. Plus- these Autofools have the audacity to come here- again?!? He raises his blaster to fire at Jazz, then hears something about- an Autograph? ...huh? He stares in Solstice's direction. " ...What?" Combat: Blast Off sets his defense level to Protected. Combat: Blast Off strikes Jazz with his Owners have the Right to Refuse Service- and this means YOU! (Laser) attack! Rumble is taken entirely by surprise, and Jazz is easily able to use the tiny Decepticon as a makeshift melee weapon to ricochet off of Blast Off's face. However, this doesn't disable the little guy; it only serves to piss him off. "GET OUTTA OUR SHOP!!" he bellows, with an intensity that only someone like Frenzy might be able to fully appreciate. "GET the **** OUTTA HERE, you ****'in Auto-****!!!" He's flying/hovering in the air now, getting his bearings as he pulls his laser-rifles off his back and begins shooting like crazy at Jazz. Hopefully he has *some* measure of self-control, or there's going to be a lot of broken enerwine bottles when this is all over. Combat: Rumble strikes Jazz with his Dual Laser Rifles attack! <> Swindle comments almost casually as he transforms. <> But his purple optics are focusing up at where the yowling and autograph requests came from. He hmms faintly, drawing his handgun and aiming it up to fire the magnetic grappler beam at the billboard. It catchs the edge and he gives it a yank, causing the delapitated thing to creak ominously as it starts to topple over. Preferrably on top of the snooping femme. He'll put up a new billboard for one of his own products later to replace it. The jeep flips back and up, revealing a lean mean black market machine. Combat: Swindle strikes Solstice with his Are you getting board yet? attack! Combat: That attack has temporarily impaired Solstice's Agility. (Crippled) ___ ___ _____ ___ _ _ | _ ) / _ \ |_ _| / __| | | | | | _ \ | (_) | | | \__ \ |_| |_| |___/ \___/ |_| |___/ (_) (_) "ZOW!" comes the call from Jazz as he's nailed with multiple volleys of laser fire. He's going to have to be more careful in here..a lot more careful. Worse yet, he's outnumbered as the appearance of Swindle has tilted things definitively against the Autobot's once again. That's the problem with Nova Cronum..they're always outnumbered. No choice for it, he's gotta get some room to maneuver..maybe outdistance Rumble and draw Blast Off away so he can get what he needs. Transforming while he's still in the back of the shop he floors it, using one of the newly downed shelves as a ramp to launch out of the shop and into the streets, racing off. As he goes though, his back window lights up right in their faces and that full spectrum beacon pulses to light up the shop on every wavelength for just a second, hopefully buying him time to get clear..ish. Combat: Jazz sets his defense level to Guarded. Falling forward, Jazz's arms and legs pull in and his head recedes as he shifts into the form of the high performance Porsche 935 Turbo. Combat: Porsche Turbo strikes Rumble with his Full-Spectrum Beacon Area attack! Combat: That attack has temporarily limited Rumble's Accuracy! (Blinded) Combat: Porsche Turbo misses Blast Off with his Full-Spectrum Beacon Area attack! Solstice is rather amazed at Jazz's mad skills, optics brightening. A merry smile is aimed at Blast Off, "Have t' ask y' later. Duty calls!" She reaches behind her shoulders to haul out twin pistols as the sign is falling. A twist-curl, and she manages not to get crushed but does get knocked askew into what looks like a free-fall. But wait! There's more! Catching herself via lovely flight systems, she twists, scared up by the debris, some support cables twined about a leg but now armed. Systems cycle up as she hovers, trying to kick the cable off of her leg. "Huh..." She makes a split calculation then turns, taking aim with both pistols towards the source of the cable which caused the sign to muck her paint up. "Ah, hello there." There's a click, a brief flash of light before both pistols fire in tandem, beams intertwining as they spiral outwards. "Nothin' personal." Tone rather business like. Combat: Solstice strikes Swindle with her Solar Flare's nothing personal just a box knocker. attack! ___ ___ _ _ ___ _ _ / __| / _ \ | \| | / __| | | | | | (__ | (_) | | .` | \__ \ |_| |_| \___| \___/ |_|\_| |___/ (_) (_) Combat: Rumble sets his defense level to Protected. Combat: Blast Off sets his defense level to Guarded. Blast Off grumbles at Swindle's message, *I* *know* that... and I am *working* on it right now... It won't take long, I am certain. This particular Autofool seems to have a death wish... He was just here not long ago. I am going to let him know he is unwelcome. Where are you, anyway? There are at least two of these pests....>> In the meantime, Jazz seems determined to cut- and run! "Come back here. You will not escape that easily!" The shuttleformer runs out the door after him, but when he sees the light show begin, his quick reflexes allow him to duck down to avoid being blinded. Once that's out of the way, he's back to pursuing Jazz. The Combaticon flies up, using anti-gravs to follow the Bot while maintaining some distance. "You damaged the enerwine shop... and for that, I will definitely make you pay! Do you know how *expensive* some of that wine is?!?" He fires at Jazz again. Combat: Blast Off misses Porsche Turbo with his Pest Control attack! -1 Rumble is about to unleash some more Joe Pesci-style profanity and equally-wild shooting on Jazz. He moves in closer to the enerwine shelving area -- but when Jazz's lights come up, it blinds him and he has no idea where his target even is. The disorientation makes him abandon his original plan, and take cover within one of the enerwine nooks until he's better able to deal with this problem. "Frickin'.....!!!! Oh, you're gonna get it, ya schmuck," he grouses as he scoots into the enerwine nook. Combat: Rumble takes extra time to steady himself. Pass Down the sign goes!... And the Autobot manages to avoid becoming steet pizza. An optic ridge raises a bit. "Huh. An autobot that can fly in robot mode. How novel." Then she turns two pistols on him. "Really, a pair of side irons? Is that the best you have to offe--" And fires something a lot bigger than just two little pistol blasts. "--Oh dipsticks.." *BOOM* Swindle ends up skidding out of the alley on his backside from the attack, smoke hissing off his body. "Well, that happened." With a grunt he gets up, and levels his own arm cannon back into the alley. There's an audible click as the choke engages and the muzzle irises into a scatter reducing setting. "Shame I didn't bring something more interesting to demonstrate for you, but this was going to be a -social- call. None the less...." He lets the scatterblaster firing finish the retort for him with its thooming roar. Combat: Swindle strikes Solstice with his Focused Blast attack! ___ ___ _____ ___ _ _ | _ ) / _ \ |_ _| / __| | | | | | _ \ | (_) | | | \__ \ |_| |_| |___/ \___/ |_| |___/ (_) (_) Jazz is burning rubber..and judging from the smoke pouring out of his rear wheel wells, that might not be an expression this time. He zips along the rubble strewn streets with incredible maneuvering, until Blast Off starts closing in on him. Transforming, he hits the ground running, jumping up and to the right to kick off of the nearest building, hitting the building across the street a bit higher before leaping out again. His grappling hook shoots out and catches onto one of the building towers just in time to snap him into a wide swing, Blast Off's shot sailing just a hair wide as he swings back around towards the shuttleformer and pulls his own rifle up to snap off a quick shot. The Porsche 935 Turbo's front end suddenly pushes up from the ground, the rear pulling forward beneath it as Jazz stands up into robot form. Combat: Jazz strikes Blast Off with his quickdraw and shooting from the hip attack! -2 Solstice drops the two now slagged pistols, the melted and twisted former weapons falling to the ground as she gives hands a shake, fingertips smoking. "Don't underestimate a good pair of side irons." Merry smile that freezes while her optics widen. "Oh.. Heeeey, That looks like my kind of - uhoh". Making a dive for the ground, those cables hooked around a leg jerk her backwards like a deranged bungee cord into the blast. The blast makes a less than friendly connection, not only shredding through side armor and through a door-wing, but the cable included gives her a good, solid smack into the side of the building. "Oooh." Dangling a moment, optics dimming before she kicks legs, firing boot thruster to sever the cable and drop to the ground. A shake of her head, "Now that's a gun." Tone still friendly as she pulls a short stick from between door-wings. It's flicked to lengthen out into a stave, another twist and blade heads form on one end, a halberd. "Hate t' make it personal an' all but.." She leaps upwards then dives towards Swindle, swinging the battle-axe on a stick, "I'm fresh outta guns." Combat: Solstice strikes Swindle with her Let me axe you a question attack! ___ ___ _ _ ___ _ _ / __| / _ \ | \| | / __| | | | | | (__ | (_) | | .` | \__ \ |_| |_| \___| \___/ |_|\_| |___/ (_) (_) Combat: Rumble sets his defense level to Aggressive. Blast Off pursues Jazz, who somehow avoids his attack (?!?) then surprises him with a sudden swing through the streets- wait, groundpounders aren't supposed to get all fancy and acrobatic like that! He takes a hit to the shoulder and jerks back, grabbing the injured spot and wincing. He remains hovering and looking down at the Autobot... he does like looking down on people, after all. "Are you a glutton for punishment or something? Why do you Autofools insist on coming back to this place? Admit it, you've lost!" And he fires at the Autobot again! Swindle gets to his feet, only to sigh a bit when he sees the femme pull out an axe. "And the Autobots say -we're brutal..." Sure enough, she comes rushing at him with it. He can't really dodge the charge, but he does duck down and turn in to the attack a bit, bringing up one arm to keep the blade from making contact by letting the shaft smash into his arm instead. "That's going to be a pain to buff out." But maybe it's the other hand someone should be paying more attention to, as Swindle slips out a metallic disc into his palm. Turns to try and slap it on Solstice's side. "Prehaps I can interest you in a ... shocking revelation?" There's precious few clicks of time to pull the device off before it detonates, not in an explosion but in a powerful debilitating discharge of electromagnetic energy. Combat: Blast Off strikes Jazz with his ADMIT you lost- and GET lost! (Laser) attack! Combat: Swindle sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Swindle strikes Solstice with the Swindle-forged Re-Volt-Ing Developments attack! Combat: Swindle's attack has strange and mysterious effects on Solstice. At some point, Rumble flies out of the shop to pursue Jazz, his optics still hurting badly. He can now see -- sort of. He passes Swindle and Solstice, then makes a hornet-like beeline, flying low to make a risky landing near Jazz's foot. While Jazz is preoccupied with Blast Off, the tiny terror draws out his pylons and proceeds to try and impale Jazz in the foot with them. He's still having problems focusing, but that foot is a pretty big target...thank Primus for big distractions. Combat: Rumble misses Jazz with his Piledriver Assault attack! Rumble is...probably going to get stepped on now. X) ___ ___ _____ ___ _ _ | _ ) / _ \ |_ _| / __| | | | | | _ \ | (_) | | | \__ \ |_| |_| |___/ \___/ |_| |___/ (_) (_) When Blast Off shoots him yet again, Jazz can't help but stagger back from the shot, a lovely hole through his left shoulder showing how badly the shot has damaged the spy meister. Of course, the staggering shot is what saves him from the half-blinded midget of doom, as Rumble ends up pounding away at the top of the building with those pylons. Charging forward, Jazz jumps up and plants his foot on top of the pylon on it's downward stroke, using the force of it pumping back upwards for the next spike into the cracking rooftop as a boost as he jumps high into the air towards Blast Off. His hand snaps up, firing a grappling hook past Blast Off to impact one of the buildings as Jazz's flamethrower belches it's incendiary payload at the shuttleformer. "We ain't never givin' up!" he calls out as he does, swinging past Blast Off. Combat: Jazz strikes Blast Off with his Jazz!? That's the BIONIC COMMANDO! attack! Solstice skids to a halt as the handle meets Swindles arm. "It's nothin' personal." Slight flick of a door as she twists to hop backwards, optics widening at the sideslap, "No getting' frisky." Blink - pause and like a slo-mo disaster shot, she glands down, back up, lifts a brow and gets knocked back as the charge disrupts the stave's own fields, a mini-boom sending her backwards onto the ground. "Llamas?" Optics flickering. "Quickness is the essential-loss of enthusiasm." She struggles to get to her feet, stave dropped, door-wings shifting erratically behind her, voice gone flat, "If you're going through hell-you are certain to be in peril." She shakes her head, hand reaching up to rest on her helm, "Danger: Illogical paradigm shift." Optics narrow to thin, cold as a glacier shaded slits. "Difficulty: Systematic aberration. Indictative of cascading failure." Door-wings flare, shoulder guards raise and light up. "Solution: Remove causative agent of disarray." Palms out in front of her as she kicks upwards, spinning once before facing what may be Swindle, may be a wall, may be elsewhere and releasing a series of smaller plasmic flares in a one-two-three-four pulse sequence. Combat: Solstice's Clarity of thought before ALL THE **** CHICKENS! attack on Jazz goes wild! Combat: Solstice strikes herself with her Clarity of thought before ALL THE **** CHICKENS! Area attack! -3 Combat: Solstice's Clarity of thought before ALL THE **** CHICKENS! attack on Blast Off goes wild! Combat: Solstice strikes herself with her Clarity of thought before ALL THE **** CHICKENS! Area attack! -3 Combat: Solstice's Clarity of thought before ALL THE **** CHICKENS! attack on Swindle goes wild! Combat: Solstice strikes Jazz with her Clarity of thought before ALL THE **** CHICKENS! Area attack! -3 Combat: Solstice's Clarity of thought before ALL THE **** CHICKENS! attack on Rumble goes wild! Combat: Solstice strikes Jazz with her Clarity of thought before ALL THE **** CHICKENS! Area attack! -3 ___ ___ _ _ ___ _ _ / __| / _ \ | \| | / __| | | | | | (__ | (_) | | .` | \__ \ |_| |_| \___| \___/ |_|\_| |___/ (_) (_) Blast Off suddenly finds the Autobot swinging his way, and receives a face-full of flames! "GAH!" Slag it all, has Jazz been taking lessons from Dogfight?!? ...Or is it the other way around? The Combaticon shakes his arms and does a loop-de-loop or two, trying to put out the flames, then turns to glare at the Autobot. "I have had quite enough of THAT! First Dogfight, then you, too? At the very least come up with some new moves!" Not that Blast off is really one to talk- his moves consist of "shoot", "shoot", or, if he's feeing *really* fancy... "*snark* and shoot!". And speaking of that, he aims his rifle up to blast away at the 'Bot again. Oh well. At least in the sniper's case, it's a matter of...If it ain't broke, don't fix it. And... it USUALLY ain't broke.... He is temporarily distracted as a barrage of missiles come rocketing his way... they may strike Jazz, but Blast off just twirls around in midair to avoid them. "What the slag...?" But he doesn't have much time to look- right now he's got a job to do, and as he comes back to hover feet-down he fires at Jazz in one smooth motion, as he intended! Plasma plasma plasma, raining down almost everywhere. Except it's intended target. Helps that Swindle knowing full well what that device he used can do decidedly did not stay still, weaving off to the side to avoid getting in the direct line of erratic firing. "Bah. Was hoping it would incapacitate her entirely so I could carjack that flight system, but not the time to be choosy." However his maneuvering serves more than dissauding aim, as it lines up both Autobots in his range of vision. Arm cannon comes up again, this time barrel widening back out to its normal scatterblaster bore size as he fires. "Don't worry folks, there is plenty to go around. All SwindleCo munitions are provided in enconomy sized bulk to ensure you never have to suffer enbarassing downtime between reloads so you can decimate your opponents in ease." Combat: Blast Off strikes Jazz with his Get Gone Already! attack! -2 Combat: Jazz's attack continues to damage you. Combat: Jazz's attack has damaged your Agility! Combat: Swindle strikes Solstice with his Leave it to Swindle to spout Infomercial jibberish for MORE DAKKA Area attack! Combat: Swindle strikes Jazz with his Leave it to Swindle to spout Infomercial jibberish for MORE DAKKA Area attack! Rumble checks himself over, briefly, after being used as Jazz's step-off point on the rooftop. Abandoning that effort, he pulls his pylons back in and his arms emerge once again. As Solstice's shots ricochet all over the place, he lays flat until things get quiet again, then pops back up and begins shooting a barrage of laser-fire in the general direction of both Autobots. He's exceptionally annoyed at how trashed the enerwine shop is. "GET OUTTA HERE, or we'll MAKE YOU!!" he threatens menacingly. Combat: Rumble misses Jazz with his BLU SNOIPAH! Area attack! Combat: Rumble strikes Solstice with his BLU SNOIPAH! Area attack! Combat: Solstice falls to the ground, unconscious. ___ ___ _____ ___ _ _ | _ ) / _ \ |_ _| / __| | | | | | _ \ | (_) | | | \__ \ |_| |_| |___/ \___/ |_| |___/ (_) (_) Solstice hits the ground and staggers while the plastic solar darts whorl about and rebound on their creator, eating and etching themselves through the femme's frame, reducing the windscreen canopy to base molecules, melting and moulding several panel interlocks into lacy after-remnants of metal plating. In a flat tone, she echoes softly, "Analysis: Systems critical." With door smoking, shoulders smoking, optics crackling with the sort of deranged glow only a creator could love, she shakes her head, expressionless, hand going to her head. "Analysis: Weapons offline. Analysis: Targeting systems disengaged. Analysis: Error..." She staggers back as Rumble's shots hammer through the already paper-thinned out armoring, searing into core structures. Pause, "Cascading systemic failure in process. Engaging core buffer, engaging core stabilization." She drops to a knee, "Tctical withdrawal rec-" door-wing's lacy leftovers give a flutter before she falls. And then there was Jazz, just swinging on by like a big blue-and white Spiderman, the coolest mech in town by far. He never expected the friendly fire to be so un-friendly..those two plasma arcs crackle across him and send a series of small explosions, blowing the grappling hook winch in the process. As he's falling towards the ground, things go straight from bad to worse as Blast Off takes aim down at him and sends a shot blasting straight through Jazz's midsection. It's not pretty, the blast rips right through the saboteur and then explodes against the ground beneath him, bouncing him back up. Before he can even cry out though, Swindle goes nuts with the firepower and sends more holes punching through Jazz, bouncing him sideways into a building before he finally comes crashing to a halt. It's a saving mercy though as it knocks him behind a piece of rubble that shields him from Rumble's own insane shooting. "Nnnhh..this..ain' good.." he mutters, trying to get a bead on what is going on. He hears Solstice over the radio, what sounds like her going offline, and crackles his own message out. He looks around and raises his rifle again, not towards a Decepticon but instead aiming at an exposed strut of one of the buildings..gotta time this right..gotta move.. The shot rings out and he explodes out of his hiding place, ignoring the fact that one of his doors rips off as he dodges past a lamp post, the thing having been hanging on by scraps of metal already. It's not been a good week for Jazz. His shots blast into the support structure of the building, starting a rumbling in it, the entire thing starting to collapse outwards, towards where Solstice is laying in the street. His grappling hook launches out, the winch is fragged but the launcher appears to be operative still. His other hand grabs the line as it hits, magnetically hooking her chassis. He gives the cord a hard yank as he dives straight into the base of the collapsing building, sliding right through into the basement as he brings the whole thing down on top of them to hide their escape. It looks like it's the sewers for an exit today, not that Jazz minds..he hauls Solstice up over his shoulder and starts to trek through to carry her back to safety.. "I've got your number now Combaticon.." he mutters as he makes the trek, "and those drones are goin' offline.." Swindle watchs as Solstice crumples to the pavement. "Now that's more like it~" He rubs his hands together, you can practically see the 'kaching' in his optics at the prospect of that illicite flight system. He steps over her, hands raised ready to do some dismantling.... then he stops at the sound of rumbling that isn't Rumble and glances over his shoulder, optics widening. "Slaggit!" He lunges to the side and rolls, barely managing to avoid also being under the crumbling structure. He comes out of the tumble on one knee and his blaster cannon raised... but admist the rubble and dust clouds there is no seeing the Autobot duo, and eventually he lowers his weapon. "Spit and sprockets, what a disappointment. Intelligence would of paid big money for the removal of an unauthorized robot flight system." Blast Off watches as Jazz brings the building down on himself and then comes down to land in the street, poking at the wreckage with a foot. "Those Autofools WILL learn to let this city go... or we will simply keep offlining them. Win win, either way." He sighs and looks back towards the enerwine shop. "...Except our poor shop.... We should send a repair bill to Autobot City, Rumble. Think that would work?" He tsks. "Probably not, they have no sense of civil behavior, obviously." Then he looks back to Swindle. "And if you try to sell me insurance, I am NOT interested." Mainly because he's in enough debt already..... Rumble flies over to land and sit on Blast Off's shoulder. "Mech, we SHOULD. That ain't even okay, what they did...we're gonna need to set back the openin' day to clean up that mess! Freakin' Autojerks." Swindle snorts back at Blast Off. "I only sell insurange for fire, flooding, and Dinobot rampages. Really. If I tried covering random acts of Autobot stupidity, I'd be -losing- money." Besides, there's other oppritunities. He taps two fingertips together idly, smile returning. "Oh, I don't know. There may be ways to get this mess cleaned up without having to delay any dates..." Jazz goes home. Jazz has left. Blast Off huffs slightly as Rumble lands on his shoulder, displeased as always with physical contact. He jerks his shoulder backwards slightly, hoping the tape gets the hint, but replies, "Indeed. Yes... an astute description." Then he glances to Swindle and just looks at him a long while. Should he even take the bait, he wonders? "....What do you mean?" Much like his brother Buzzsaw, Rumble doesn't much care about others' sense of personal space. But unlike Buzzsaw, Rumble doesn't have sharp talons, so he just remains seated there as if Blast Off's shoulder were created so that Rumble could sit there. "...If this is gonna cost more than the potential shanix we're gonna be pullin' in on said openin' day, the answer's no," he insists. Besides, having a cassette sit on your shoulder is a sign of prestige. Granted Rumble isn't one of the birds, but still. Swindle flicks open his personal comm device, but doesn't actually make any calls just yet. "I am, despite certain attempts, still the head of Logistics after all. I can prioritize a crew to clean-up and ensuring your own building hasn't suffered any potentially harmful structural weakness." Followed by a laugh as Rumble complains about cost. "Tch. Not every price has to be cash." Blast Off is getting twitchy... Rumble did help him drive off the Autobot hooligans, and is his enerwine shop partner, so he doesn't just fling the tape off like he wants to...but he really /doesn't/ like contact... His shoulder twitches again and he looks like he wants to start flinging his arms around. It's only his long practice at looking aloof that prevents this. He TRIES to keep that front going. To Swindle, he looks suspicious. "What IS the price, then?" There's ALWAYS a cost, and one must ALWAYS be sure to clarify these things with his teammate. Even then, you may not clarify enough. But you have to at least try..... "Yeah, I guess we're gonna hafta hear this," Rumble decides, because who's he to tell Blast Off that his 'brother' doesn't have a good idea? He's not about to do something like that! (Even if he thinks it.) Combat: Your COMBAT flag has been cleared. Swindle pretends for a moment to be paying more attention to scrolling through his list of contacts. "Oh, don't your remember Blast Off, that I have some recreational drink production operations of my own. Sure, mainly brewing, but I've been giving consideration into expanding to other fields." His thumb stops just short of pressing the call command as he looks to the duo. "But most of my typical clientel aren't so interested in 'high society' drinks, admittable. Maybe if someone was willing to provide a bit of their floor space... Of course such a contract includes said shop proprieters getting their part of any profits made in exchange for the accessability." He doesn't say it, but the look Swindle gives just oozes of 'unless you'd rather me attempting a -competing- business of my own', despite that wide, slimy smile that he's flashing with it. Blast Off glances to Rumble, shoulder still feeling very twitchy... then his optics narrow at Swindle as he listens to the conmech's spiel. There's a low, rumblling huff of shuttle engines as he digests that little "offer/demand". Finally, he asks quietly, "...I don't suppose this would include a little "paying off that debt I owe you, in addition to the other terms?" "Aw, c'mon, look, we don't really got 'space to rent' in that little place," Rumble says. "I'll just clean it up an' patch up the windows, an it'll be fine. Thanks for the 'offer' though." Swindle waggles a finger of his open hand at Blast Off. "You make a hard bargain my friend... but then again, you did learn from the best." Totally not stroking his own ego there. "But that's certainly fine if you would like to put towards paying off previous owings." He turns and folds the one arm behind his back as he raises the comm to his head while walking aside. "This is Logistics Master Swindle. There has been an altercation with Autobot intruders near the plaza. I need an immeadiate clean-up crew, and a few construction engineers to check structural integerty of a some key buildings in the area." Which Blast Off and Rumble's shop at the top of the list, of course. "Yes, yes, drones can handle the cleaning, but I want actual technicians for the double-checks, or I will be docking your energon rationing. Again." Sounds like Swindle is lending an (expensive) helping hand regardless if his allies wanted it or not. Why have this position of power if he doesn't flaunt and abuse it, after all? Blast Off looks from Rumble to Swindle, torn now. "I..." There's a wing elevon twitch. "I..." He looks at all the damage, thinks of how the Autobots just keep coming back here, thinks of his enermous debt... and then considers his general luck. The shuttle's shoulders sink a bit at that thought. "I... suppose that is... acceptible. We should allow him a little space, Rumble. It would be...." Another twitch- all over. "...For the best." "Ah, crap," Rumble grouses. He doesn't WANT to sell Swindle's 'product' in the enerwine shop. And of course, Blast Off is caving to this. He just sits there and facepalms. "Nnnggghhh." Blast Off just twitches some more, then heads off back to the wine shop, hoping Rumble will fall off soon. He's sure to "accidentally" stumble over several pieces of rubble just to further that along..... Never mind that he's usually far too graceful to do something like that..... "Man, you must be pissed off too, you're stompin' around like a yikyak," Rumble says. "Lookit, we'll make the best of this situation somehow. I dunno how, yet, but somehow. We can't go off-theme too much, our focus has gotta be fine enerwine." Blast Off huffs, annoyed- mostly because Rumble still hasn't gotten the hint, or fallen off. He makes his way to the storefront, then makes a more rponounced gesture of "get off now, would ya?" by leaning down to let Rumble off. And makes the point, "...Hop off and start cleaning up." Then he stands there, surveying the damage. Of course, he's not going to offer to help. "And yes... I agree. This is about the enerwine... not whatever slop Swindle is going to want to sell. I will be sure to tuck it away in a corner somewhere..." Somehow. Now that he's been 'given orders', Rumble complies by hopping off Blast Off's shoulder, and begins assembling cleaning drones and other supplies. "Not to mention, he'll be takin' a cut of our profits, too," he laments. Blast Off taps his faceplate thoughtfully. "I believe you have it the wrong way around. He said the "shop proprieters" (us, in other words...) would get their part of any profits made in exchange for the accessability." So WE shall get some profits, Rumble, for providing HIM with some floor space." He pauses a moment. "That all makes sense, too... it's just the fine print that I'm worried about. Swindle WILL find a way to profit.... one way or another." He sighs, but seems resigned. He just owes Swindle so much, already... anything to help pay that debt- at all... would be great. He just has to hope it doesn't somehow ADD to that debt. Blast Off is also relieved to finally have his "personal space" again.... Rumble begins picking up glass with an autosweeper. "I don't like this situation, I feel like we're gettin' suckered. I feel like we're inna Catch-404 an' there's no way out," he complains. "If he wasn't your teammate, I'd probably lawyer up, honestly. I know a few good ones in Polyhex." Blast Off sighs... and can't really argue. "It's Swindle... of course we're being "suckered". We just have to work hard to make sure we BOTH benefit from this, not JUST him. Swindle is a crafty one.... but he's not infallable." The shuttleformer taps at his head, "...And he's NOT the only smart one in the team..." Rumble carefully picks up a few intact enerwine bottles off the floor, returning them to the shelf. "Yeah, you're a smart one, an' Onslaught too. I think you guys got more brains than some a'the other teams," he admits. "I just don't want him to **** this up for us, y'know what I'm sayin'? It's a dream made real. It's a place for...for enerwine. An' events. An' like-minded mechs. An' profits!" Blast Off nods. "Yes, well... naturally we are generally more intelligent. Even Vortex is smarter than you think... Only Brawl lowers the I.Q. of our gestalt... and it's SO low it really seems to affect Bruticus, somehow." He shakes his head, then begins salvaging what wine bottles aren't shattered yet and putting them upright. "I CHOSE to work for Onslaught, Rumble. I would never have deigned to work for someone like him... a mere *groundpounder* no less... if his intellect didn't impress me as much as it did." He places another wine bottle back in place. "Yes... I am..." The Combaticon looks at Rumble, still mildly surprised. "...I am impressed by your desire to...improve yourself, and add to the culture of our planet." "Hey, I think our planet's got the best culture around," Rumble insists, as he sweeps up and down the enerwine aisles. "An' we as Decepticons got the perfect right to show the rest of the universe just how great our culture really is! Now, I know we had this talk before. The one where 'we're from two different worlds'. It's kinda true. I ain't gonna lie an' say I've had the same social circles or whatnot. But I'm curious, too, about things! We got this war goin' on but I like to learn about things when I ain't doin' my job. I'm a curious kinda mech, y'know?" Blast Off works really hard to help him... Ok, no, not really. The Combaticon DID place a few bottles back where they belong and that's a LOT of hard work, y'know? So he opens a bottle now, and pours himself a glass, then watches Rumble still cleaning. It's tiring work watching the Cassetticon do all that sweeping, after all. He does at least take out another glass (one of the big ones Rumble likes) and pours him a drink as well. Leaning back to sip his glass, he responds, "Intellectual curiosity.." (He never thought he'd use that term to describe *Rumble* of all mechs....) "...is an admirable trait, and a sign of greatness. I encourage you to continue on this path. You have come to the right person, certainly. *I* know more about such refined and sophisticated things than the vast majority here. There are too few Decepticons who care about such things. I certainly hope that this little endeavor of ours will nudge at least a few towards an appreciation of the finer things in life." He makes a little toast towards the tape, then sips. Rumble is the tape that most resembles Soundwave in appearence, though not much at all in personality. Perhaps he possesses more than just the basest of instincts, after all. For the first time this evening, he gives Blast Off a grin. Blast Off nods back, then continues sipping his wine. "Yes... It will be lovely, the day I can infuse a little... sophistication among the Decepticon ranks... as opposed to be ridiculed for it...," he mutters. "Look, I know we don't always get along, but I'm glad I'm openin' this business with you an' not someone else," Rumble admits. "Cause I dunno who else would know the real purpose behind this whole thing an'...what's supposed to get acconplished here." Blast Off gives Rumble a magnanimous nod. "Indeed. Well, as I stated, few can match my sense of sophistication. It speaks well of your own common sense, which... admittedly, I did not realize you had any.... but it speaks well of it that you seek me out for such an endeavor. I do not typically enjoy working with others, but... I suppose I do not mind working with you ...so /terribly/ much." A compliment of the highest order, coming from Blast Off. "A lotta mechs don't know nothin' about me, or they think I don't got any kinda life outside of workin' for Soundwave," Rumble admits, disposing of the broken glass carefully and then sending the sweeper on another pass through the shop. "But it pays off to pay attention. That's how you notice the details. I been around for a long time, mech. Been in service for a long, long time, long enough to know that if you can't diservify your interests, you get boring an' you can't learn new stuff as easy." Blast Off listens, still sipping his wine. "Indeed. Well... your connection to Soundwave is certainly..." Hmm, how should he put this?..."..Noteworthy. But yes, I suppose you are entitled to a life of your own, as well. We *all SHOULD* be..." The way he says it might suggest he's not sure that's always true... The Combaticon nods to the tape, then sips more wine... looking out the window as the light fades and night comes to the planet.